the words that fall out of my pen when I step off the curb…

POSTCARDS FROM AUGUST 2014 (the year of the enigmatic numbering…)

On the following pages are the postcards I sent out this year…they are mostly in the order I sent them (except for three which I forgot because I was stamp-less for awhile…those got lumped in with the thirteen extras I had, and sent in early September, so apologies to Amanda, Anthony and Judy from my list; your cards are now on the way)…

To be a little clearer, to get to any one postcard, click on the title or date on the menu running down the right side of the page and it will take you right there…on the bottom of those pages, you may click to go to the next or previous postcard poem, or you can backspace to this page and look for another date and or poem. Clear as mud, yes?

So, just to confuse things further…sometimes the number beside the “title” coincides with the number the person is on the list…sometimes, the number coincides with the date of August the card was to be sent out (not always bang on as being from Canada,I know it takes some of mine longer to get to certain places in the US then other places, so I often sent mine in batches). I guess what I’m saying is … don’t try and figure out the numbers if you can’t…

Oh, and just to confuse the issue further…I love enigmas…some of the titles are actual titles…e.g “A Puddle of Pug” but most are quotations from the great Lawrence Ferlinghetti (and attributed to him on the postcard) – his quote was often the impetus for the poem (I’m sure I’ve explained elsewhere about response or turn-around poems: they don’t work especially well for me because of where I live and how long it takes and yada, yada, yada.) Happily though, even with typing my poems because of my gnarly hands, I was pretty much able to execute my editor this year and go with a first draft…huge for me.

Below is a photo of the postcards I’ve received so far (it’s September 3)…I’m still expecting a few more so might be posting a second shot somewhere down the road. Let me just add in case it isn’t clear, I loved doing this both years but this year it was FANTASTIC! Thanks Paul for all you did and thanks to all who participated…what a great community of poets and postcarders…

Oh, I’m sorry Jessica…I’ve been watching for yours but nothing yet. It’s probably held up some where with Canada Post. My husband and I both think our postal delivery person often takes a 5 day weekend; it’s common for us to not get any mail on Friday or Monday! However, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, some of my cards didn’t show up until October last year and I don’t think it had anything to do with when they were mailed or from where…I just think Canada Post has an efficiency problem. I’ll let you know as soon as it appears.

I’m still missing 9 or 10 from Canada or the U.S. if I’m reading the list properly…so there’s time yet…